SAUDI ARABIA – IRAN Yemen: suspending Iranian weapons to the Houthis, first step in the Riyadh-Tehran agreement

Saudi and US officials said the Islamic Republic has agreed to cut off supplies to the rebel group. A decision that could mark the end of the fighting and agree on a stable and lasting truce. Israel’s first reactions: the former Mossad chief speaks of a “surprising” step and invites the government to “a different policy” with Tehran.

Riyadh () – The first concrete step in the resumption of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran should take place, according to experts, on Yemeni soil. And so it has been, at least according to what has been announced in recent hours by Saudi and US diplomats, who stated that Tehran has agreed to suspend the shipment of weapons to the Houthi rebels, who are fighting against government forces backed by Riyadh, to the head of an armed Arab coalition. The sources quoted by the Wall Street Journal agree that if the Islamic Republic “stops arming” the rebels, it could “put pressure on the militant group” and favor “an agreement” to end the conflict.

For years the Wahhabi kingdom and the Islamic Republic have supported the warring parties in Yemen, fueling a conflict with disastrous consequences on a humanitarian level and which has even exceeded the country’s borders, with the launching of Houthi missiles towards Saudi territory. The spokesman for the Iranian delegation to the UN declined to answer the question about the suspension of arms shipments, and in recent years Tehran has always denied – at least officially – that it provides military aid to the Houthis. However, when the agreement between the parties was signed a few days ago, one of the points of greatest interest was precisely the “Yemeni question” and a Saudi official, on condition of anonymity, said that he expected Tehran to respect the embargo. This condition, the experts point out, would hinder the group’s armed struggle and would favor agreeing on a truce that has been expected for months.

The attention of US and Saudi officials is now focused on Iran, to see if it will honor its commitment and proceed with the reopening of the respective embassies within the next two months. The resumption of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran “encourages the prospect of an agreement [en Yemen] in the near future” and the way in which Iran approaches the conflict will be “a kind of litmus test” to evaluate “the success of this agreement”, explains a source from Washington.

Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, flew to Tehran earlier this week to discuss Tehran’s role in ending the war and then continued on to Riyadh. Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for the Arab country, met with Saudi officials in Riyadh on March 15 to try to reinvigorate long-stalled peace talks and a truce that expired in October and has never been renewed. . The goal, though difficult, is to agree to a ceasefire before Ramadan begins next week.

Finally, the first reactions to last week’s Chinese-sponsored agreement between Tehran and Riyadh also come from Israel. The former director of the Mossad – the Israeli secret service – Ephraim Halevy, invited the country’s institutions to explore the possibilities of a rapprochement with the Islamic Republic after a step that he described as “very surprising”. Interviewed by , he said he had no “prejudice” about the deal itself, and called for finding new ways to operate in an evolving scenario, because right now “changes in the balance of power and in the relationships that were long considered “unlikely.”

“[Israel debería] to understand what led the Iranians to a rapprochement with Saudi Arabia,” Halevy said, wondering if “the time has also come for Israel to pursue a different policy towards Iran” exploring “cautiously” whether there is also the possibility of a “approach” between the two historical enemies of the region.